The Register-Guard won three awards in the Society of Professional
Journalists' regional contest.

The awards, announced Saturday, were:

Second place in the news page design category, to Deputy Managing
Editor Carl Davaz, Director of Graphics Rob Romig and Assistant Director
of Graphics/Design Tom Penix.

Honorable mention in the investigative reporting category to
reporters Joe Harwood and Susan Palmer and Business Editor Christian
Wihtol.

Honorable mention in the food, fashion and home category, to
reporter Elaine Lapriore.

The Register-Guard competes in a division of daily newspapers with
circulations of 50,000 and larger. The contest included papers from
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Judging was done by
journalists from SPJ chapters in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit and
Connecticut.

Among area nondaily papers, the Cottage Grove Sentinel won 10
awards; Eugene Weekly won four awards; and the Suislaw News in Florence
and Umpqua Free Press in Reedsport each won one award.

NORTHWEST

Panel says bridges

in dire need of repair

PORTLAND - The state must repair damaged spans on the vital
north-south and east-west routes most used by trucks immediately or face
serious economic consequences, an Oregon Transportation Department task
force says.

Members of the Bridge Strategy Task Force plan to recommend a
multiple-phase strategy to address Oregon's cracked bridge problem
when they present a draft report Tuesday to the Oregon Transportation
Commission.

There are so many bridges in trouble, and so many more trucks
rumbling through Oregon, that it doesn't make sense to repair one
span only to leave trucks to face other unusable bridges along the same
route, said Tom Lulay, the deputy transportation director leading the
task force.

Inspectors have identified 487 state-owned bridges that suffer some
degree of cracking. Of those, 309 are candidates for repair or
replacement for a total cost of $2 billion.

At least 30 bridges along major shipping routes have load
restrictions and detour, some up to 120 miles. Truckers face similar
difficulties with at least 43 bridges on minor routes.

The bridges include 31 just south of Salem, 30 around Eugene, and
45 south of Grants Pass. The task force suggests replacing 155 bridges
and fixing two bridges along Interstate 5, the main north-south route
through Oregon. That should cost more than $673 million.

Medical team tops list for call-ups

PORTLAND - The Oregon Disaster Medical Team will join a group of
medical teams called first in national emergencies.

The federal government has promoted Oregon's team to Level 1
status, meaning that its volunteer doctors and nurses will be in a
rotation of ``disaster medical assistance teams'' around the
country.

Each month, a few are on call to fly to disasters, said Dr. Helen
Miller, a Eugene pediatrician who is the team's leader.

The federal government will give the team enough equipment to set
up a field hospital. The equipment could be used on federal trips
outside Oregon and for in-state emergencies.

- From news service reports

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